When a Chinese film rewrites a crucial episode in the history – Le Point

A Chinese film about the Cairo Conference in 1943 – crucial episode of World War II – was derided by Internet Monday: the poster of the movie shows Mao Zedong alongside Churchill and Roosevelt … while he has never attended the event. Cairo Declaration is a big budget film War, produced by a company affiliated with the Chinese army and enrolling in the program concocted by Beijing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender.

The historical episode is well known: while the World War at a crossroads, the leaders of major Allied powers – the US, Britain and China – are found late November 1943 in Egypt discuss ways to win the war against Japan in Asia. The film is not yet released in theaters, but the poster, in a fit of delirious patriotism, already seems to happily rewrite history. Y appears on the face closeup of a lookalike actor Mao, suggesting that he was the hero of the conference, discussing with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt …

This is Chiang Kai-shek who represented the country in Cairo

In the trailer, we see Mao also declare a martial tone: “The mission of communists throughout the world to lead the fight against fascism. “The problem is that the Communist leader has never met Churchill nor set foot in Egypt. Mao was then holed up in the countryside of Shaanxi in the north of China; is the leader of the Chinese Republic and head of the Nationalist Army, Chiang Kai-shek, who represented the countries in Cairo, accompanied by his elegant wife Soong May-ling.

The dissemination of poster and trailer for Cairo Declaration has resulted in a flood of mockery and satirical comments on Chinese social networks. “I am outraged that my contribution to the Cairo Conference may not be recognized in this movie,” quipped a user on Weibo microblogging platform. Other, more serious, recalling that it was only a last avatar multiple rewrites history … made by the Communist regime itself. The poster also gave rise to multiple and hilarious diversions – a site specially created for the occasion by mischievous users to play to their hearts content

The diverted versions did appear. instead of Mao other leaders (US President Obama, the North Korean Kim Jong-un …) or even the monster Gollum, film trilogy Lord of the Rings. Poster modified downright showed … the current Chinese President Xi Jinping (though born in 1953). Perceiving the absurdity of the situation, even state media have distanced themselves: the daily Global Times , linked to the Communist Party, has held “inappropriate” exploitation of Mao to promote the film .